In the green pampas to the west of Buenos Aires, San Antonio is the gaucho capital of the country, a shady colonial town that's served many a time as a film set. It's also a literary locale (as the setting of Ricardo G|iraldes's so-called gauchesque novel Don Segundo Sombra), as well as an artists' colony for painters who deal in gauchesque themes and crafts workers who specialize in horse gear. Surrounding the town are several estancias that are the Argentine equivalent of dude ranches, hosting city dwellers for weekends and even longer vacations; the G|iraldes' family estancia serves as a city park and museum.